The Consumers (Re)generation/(CoRe) is co-funded by European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) and it is implemented by Cittadinanzattiva together with a consortium of partners from Greece and Romania, which includes Union of Working Consumers of Greece and InfoCons

The Core project aims to:

1. Improving consumers’ information and awareness on their rights, responsibilities and choices in the market;

2. Strengthening consumers’ skills and knowledge in in-store and online shopping.

Minors, and the activities aimed at them, are the central focus of the project not only because they are not fully aware of their rights as consumers or are not in a position to avail themselves of the instruments of protection, but also because their active involvement will be the basis for launching a path of engagement and activism aimed at more adult consumers who, as the data tell us, even when they know their rights as consumers, tend to do nothing to enforce them.

There will be a general focus on raising awareness and promoting fundamental consumer rights such as the right to safety and quality of products and services; the right to fair and honest business practices; the right to fairness, transparency and equity in contractual relations. Particular attention will also be paid to the right to adequate information, since the spread of unfair commercial practices, both online and through the more ‘traditional’ media, linked to the dissemination of unclear, misleading or even false information undermines the right to be properly informed, to safety, to an informed choice and to compensation, when due. The minors adequately trained and involved in the process, will be ambassadors at the communities of reference, triggering a relationship of intergenerational and mutual exchange.

Specific Objectives

1. Increasing knowledge and skills in young consumers (minors) regarding their rights, protections and responsibilities to make more responsible and safe choices in online and in-store purchases, through an educational path designed with a focus on the areas where they are most vulnerable:

• unfair commercial practices and how to protect oneself from them;

• product safety and combating counterfeiting.

2. Increasing knowledge of consumer rights, responsibilities and protection tools, among an adult audience, with a focus on online and in-store purchases, through a process of informal consumer education, conveyed both by young people involved in consumer education and through a digital information campaign.

3. Initiate a network of European stakeholders in order to to promote dialogue on the importance of education and training on consumer rights.

Activities

The project is structured around three main pillars:

1. Educational program for young people

An educational program will be launched for youth aged 12 to 16, conducted within schools by specially trained teachers using an educational KIT on consumer rights. The program also includes a classroom-based idea contest involving the creation of creative messages. At the end of the program, based on all classroom contributions, the Young Consumers’ Manifesto will be created. Participants in the educational program will also lead a peer-to-peer information campaign to promote consumer rights among their peers and within their communities.

2. Engaging adults

The project involves adults (families) in the educational process by transforming young people into “consumer rights ambassadors” within their families and communities. This approach emphasizes the importance of a multi-generational education and awareness process that extends beyond the school environment. At the end of the training, a digital awareness campaign will be launched targeting the adult public, based on the project’s main outputs.

3. European networking

A network of European stakeholders will be activated to contribute to the design of the educational tools developed within the project. More broadly, this network will be engaged in discussions on the importance of consumer rights education, leading to the development of a position paper to be publicly presented at a final event in Brussels.

Activities’ purpose

The activities focus on the priority ‘Consumers’ rights and responsibilities:

– understanding the rules and regulations that businesses and consumers have to comply with as actors

– understanding consumers’ right to safety, choice, information and redress’, with a special focus on the target group of minors, identified as most exposed and vulnerable.

CoRe aims to increase:

Firstly, by means of an information and training process, using an open and inclusive methodology, the acquisition of consumerist knowledge and skills firstly by teachers, involved in an ad hoc pathway.

Secondly, educational and workshop paths will be activated for minors with the direct involvement of their families in especially dedicated workshops, and with a subsequent impact of the overall activities on the community at large.